Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.

After
years of pressuring, film producer and distributor Henry G. Saperstein managed to
convince Toho Co., Ltd. to allow him
to pitch a new Godzilla film to Hollywood. Saperstein had been involved with
co-producing and releasing the Japanese films in the United States. He brought
up the availability of the Godzilla rights to Sony Pictures producers Cary Woods and Robert Fried, and, while they
were interested, both Columbia
and TriStar turned the idea down. Woods decided to go to the top and
presented the idea to then-Chairman of the Board and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment
Peter Guber. Guber was enthusiastic
about the possibility of acquiring an international brand and set the film up
at TriStar.

The de Bont version of Godzilla.

TriStar secured the rights to
produce a trilogy of films in late 1992. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio wrote the script
for the first film in 1994, and Jan
de Bont was named the film’s director. Pre-production was well underway for
a 1996 release, but de Bont left the film when TriStar refused to approve his
$100-120 million budget. Director Roland
Emmerich and producer Dean
Devlin were brought on with the stipulation that they could do the movie
their own way after initially turning down the offer due to their belief that
it was a silly idea. Although the liked the original script, they promptly
discarded it and ignored the four-page list of rules Toho provided for the
handling of the Godzilla franchise.

Maquette of the Tatopoulos version.

Emmerich and Devlin decided to make
Godzilla more of a creature fighting for survival. Patrick Tatopoulos was tapped to
design the new Godzilla with the only instruction being “Make him able to run
incredibly fast.” Tatopoulos designed Godzilla s a learn, iguana-like creature
that stood with its back and tail parallel to the ground. His color scheme was
meant to help Godzilla blend into the urban environment the movie would be
taking place in. Tatopoulos created concept art and a 2-foot tall maquettes to
present at a meeting with Toho to pitch their idea. Toho chairman Isao Matsuoka, Godzilla
producer Shogo
Tomiyama, and special effects director Koichi Kawakita attended the
meeting, and after Tomiyama met with Godzilla’s creator Tomoyuki Tanaka
(whose failing health prevented his attending the meeting) they approved the project.

Emmerich and Devlin wrote the script
for the film and made several changes to the character to fit their vision.
After discovering that certain lizards could burrow, they gave him that
ability. Deeming the trademarked “atomic breath” too unbelievable, they
exchanged it for “power breath” which would have Godzilla simply blow things
away (the atomic breath was restored in some fashion when word of the change
was leaked and fan backlash was negative). They also made him able to lay
hundreds of eggs via parthenogenesis, leading to offspring that could rapidly
have their own and soon overrun the planet. Also, Emmerich didn’t like the
concept of two monsters fighting and chose to make the primary opposition the
military.

The film centered on Godzilla (vocal
effects provided by Frank Welker) being created after a nuclear test in French
Polynesia in the 1940s and 50s. Biologist Dr. Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) is recruited
by the United States military to study the creature and tell them more about it
as it makes it way to Manhattan island. There, Nick learned that Godzilla had
come to lay eggs and encouraged the military to find his nest, but they decide
to ignore his theory when his ex-girlfriend, struggling reporter Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), reveals
classified information she stole from him. However, French secret service agent
Phillippe Roche (Jean Reno), assigned to clean-up
his country’s mess, believes in Nick’s idea and brings him on board to find and
destroy the nest.

Godzilla on the hunt.

Godzilla
was released on May 20, 1998 to lackluster reviews. Members of the Japanese
film productions who were supportive of the possibility of new ideas and a new
life for the franchise were soured by the final result. Fans, annoyed by the
changes and the lack of connection to previous iterations of Godzilla, coined
the phrase GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) when talking about the movie. In later
years, Devlin would admit they made a mistake in their depiction of Godzilla
and how they handled the human characters in the film, and Emmerich for the
lack of test-screening to find and fix problems as well as a rushed shooting
schedule. Broderick, while liking the movie, felt that he might have been
miscast. Ultimately, while the movie was a box office success, it had performed
under TriStar’s expectations and the rest of the trilogy was cancelled.

TriStar, believing the film couldn’t
succeed without an aggressive marketing campaign, lined up license agreements
with over 300 companies. TriStar also looked ahead to the future and worked on
some media tie-ins to the franchise; one of those being an animated series. The
series began production with Sony’s Adelaide Productions
eight months before the film’s release, and was developed by Jeff Kline and Richard Raynis. Kline worked
with Emmerich and Devlin to devise the series’ bible and had initial monster
designs drawn up in order to try and sell it to a network. FOX agreed to order 40 episodes of the series
for their Fox Kids block.

Godzilla:
The Series picked up almost immediately from where the film left off,
although with a slight change to the ending. While one of Godzilla’s eggs did
survive, this time Nick (Ian Ziering, replacing Jason Priestley who couldn’t
commit beyond the first five episodes he recorded) was present when the baby
Godzilla (Welker) hatched. The baby imprinted on Nick, and Nick decided to save
him from destruction and study him. Nick formed a team called H.E.A.T., or
Humanitarian Environmental (once Ecological) Analysis Team, which dealt with
monsters created from ecological pollution. Joining Nick from the film was snarky
behavioral expert Dr. Elsie Chapman (Charity James) and cowardly engineer and
chemist Dr. Mendel Craven (Malcolm Danare, reprising the role). Newly created
for the show was intern and hacker Randy Hernandez (Rino Romano) and DGSE agent Monique Dupre
(Brigitte Bako), who was sent to destroy Godzilla initially but was assigned to
monitor him as part of the team indefinitely. N.I.G.E.L. (Tom Kenney), or Next
Millennium Intelligence Gathering Electronic Liason, was a robot created by Mendel
and Randy that accompanied the team on their missions. Godzilla would be called
upon to help deal with threats the team encountered, but ultimately the
production decided to make it seem more like he was protecting his turf (Earth)
rather than have him at the beck and call of the team like with the earlier Hanna-Barbera
effort.

Godzilla, Mendel, Elise, Nick, Randy and Monique.

In keeping with the immense secrecy
surrounding the marketing of the film (Godzilla was never fully shown before
the movie hit theaters), the series was produced under the name Heat Seekers (after the team’s boat in
the show) and phony concept art of fire-based superheroes with a sheep dog made
of pure fire was created to complete the illusion. Further conversations with
Emmerich and Devlin were had to find out what elements and characters could be
incorporated into the series, as well as general information on the film still
in production. Fil Barlow
designed the characters, basing their looks on their personalities with only a
passing resemblance to their movie counterparts (mostly to avoid likeness
rights issues). He also designed the overall appearance of the show before
turning his focus on the various monsters that would appear. Because every
aspect of the production had to be sent to Japan for approval, and certain
monsters from the Godzilla series were tied up in legal issues, they couldn’t
visit Godzilla’s rogues gallery and had to create new ones from scratch. Tim Perkins handled additional designs
for the human characters on the show following Barlow’s lead.

Godzilla likes calamari.

With the main characters assembled,
the production decided they didn’t need to bring back as many established
characters that would only serve to clutter the cast. That’s not to say several
didn’t make occasional appearances, including a decidedly more confident Audrey
(Paget Brewster) and her
cameraman, Victor “Animal” Palotti (Joe Pantoliano); Phillipe (Keith Szarabajka), who assigned
Monique to the team and popped up from time to time to provide them with
valuable information; Major Anthony Hicks (who
apparently was demoted from the Colonel rank he had in the film, but still
played by Kevin Dunn), who
was placed in charge of the military’s anti-mutation unit and often came at
odds with H.E.A.T.; and Mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner, also reprising),
the mayor of New York City (and part of Emmerich’s jab at the critic team of Siskel & Ebert over their negative
reviews for Independence Day).
New characters included recurring villain Cameron Winter (David Newsom), an old college
rival of Nick’s; Maximillian Spiel (Clancy
Brown), a billionaire who sought to make a profit from monster fights; and
redneck hunters Dale (Ronny Cox),
Hank (Bob Joles) and Bill
looking to bag themselves Godzilla. The series attracted a number of notable
guest-stars, both who have previously or not often dabbled in animation.
Amongst them were Robert
Forster as Elsie’s father; Linda
Blair as monster rights activist Alexandra Springer; Estelle Harris as an old lady; Ron Perlman as one of the
Leviathan aliens that sought to use monsters to conquer Earth; Doug Savant, who appeared as
O’Neal in the film, as a trespasser; and Roddy McDowall, in what would be
his final role before his death, as Dr. Hugh Trevor.

Crustaceous Rex.

Kline wrote a 20-page treatment for
the series outlining the characters, their interactions, the type of stories to
be written and the overall tone for the show. From that, story editors Marty Isenberg and Bob Skir wrote the full series
bible. Two teams of story editors were used and overseen by Kline and
producer/head director Audu Paden:
Isenberg and Skir managed the team for one half of the series, while Marsha Griffin and Glen Wiseman
handled the other. Since the writers wouldn’t get to see any of the episodes as
they were writing their scripts, the story editors were in charge of infusing
their scripts with phraseology and characteristics featured in the show and
maintaining continuity. The series employed a mixture of writers who had worked
on previous Sony series, as well as comic book professionals used to tight
deadlines and telling a story with limited space. Amongst the series’ writers
were Isenberg, Skir, Griffin, Richard
Mueller, Michael Reaves, Brooks Wachtel, Steven Melching, Harry “Doc” Kloor, Steve Cuden, Carl Ellswoth, Janna King, Tom Pugsley, Lara Runnels, and Patti Carr, amongst others, and
comic creators Len Wien,
Marv Wolfman and Scott Lobdell. The episodes were
largely self-contained stories, and were done so as not to be too affected
continuity-wise if the network should (and did) air them out of order.

No monster is an island.

Kline would approve the premise for
each episode and assign it to a writer, while Paden would start working on
casting, character designs, backgrounds and settings. After Paden and Barlow
devised the appearance of an episode’s monster, it would be sent to Raynis, a
talented artist, for touch-ups and finalization. After working out the details
of an episode, it would be turned over to the storyboard artists to draw out
within a two-week period. Early on in the production, no one on the crew was
allowed to know what Godzilla looked like, so basic shapes and other elements
(such as a sock puppet) were used to approximate him. He would later be
incorporated into scenes when his appearance was finally revealed. Tatopoulos
worked with the crew to help transition Godzilla into animation, defining how
he would move and act.

The rats of NY. Yeesh.

The series was animated in Korea by Anima Sam Won, DR Movie, Dong Woo Animation Co., Kiko
Enterprises Company, Lotto
Animation and New Millennium Animation. The backgrounds used on the show
were a heavily-involved process. Rather than being painted on a white
background like most shows were at the time, they were painted on animation
cels in sections and layered over each other. It created the distinct look
prominent in Sony cartoons in that period. Each episode would take an average
of 12 weeks to animate before returning back to the United States for review,
editing and touch-ups.

Breath mint!

Godzilla:
The Series debuted on FOX on September 12, 1998. Because the people behind
the show didn’t get full exposure to the film, the series took on a markedly
different tone. As many of those involved with its production were at one point
fans of the original Japanese movies, the series was closer to those
representations; with Godzilla fighting other giant monsters and the use of his
atomic breath. The series was also more serious, especially in regards to
Nick’s character who was less aloof than he was in the film. The largest source
of comedy relief came from N.I.G.E.L. and his constant destruction in every
episode (a running gag inspired by the deaths of Kenny McCormick on South
Park). The series’ theme was composed by Jim Latham while Brain Garland and Craig Sharmat composed the series’ music.
Raynis directed the series’ title sequence which featured early monster designs
that never appeared in episodes.

Godzilla fighting for his time slot.

The series was better received than
the film on which it was based, and was one of FOX’s highest rated cartoons and
number one show of 1998. FOX would air it in small mini-marathons on its
weekday schedule as well as on Saturday mornings. During the second season,
however, the show fell victim to the “Pokemon
Wars” between FOX and The WB.
WB’s acquisition of the anime Pokemon had
proved a boon for the network and led to them consistently outperforming FOX in
the ratings. To combat this, FOX acquired the similar show Digimon and would air it in mini-marathons, forcing Godzilla to be moved about the schedule
or not shown at all. With all of the constant interruptions, two episodes were
left unaired in the United States by the time the show was taken off the
schedule for new mid-season programs. Despite the fact that it maintained high
ratings with all the constant changes, FOX opted not to order additional
episodes and the series ran its course.

Although Sony maintains the rights
to the animated series, the movie rights had long since reverted to Toho. In
2004, they began copyrighting Sony’s version of Godzilla as “Zilla” for future
appearances in the Godzilla franchise. The name was a satirical take on the counterfeit
Godzilla merchandise that was often released under that name. It was also a jab
at Sony, Toho feeling they took the “God” out of “Godzilla”. Zilla made his
first appearance in the film Godzilla:
Final Wars. It ended up being the last Godzilla film made for a decade
until Legendary Pictures acquired the
rights and produced the second, and so far more successful, American attempt
with Godzillain 2014.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“New
Family, Part 1” (9/12/98) – Nick discovers one of Godzilla’s eggs have survived
and his team decide to study it, but the U.S. military seemingly kills it.

“New
Family, Part 2” (9/19/98) – Nick’s team helps the military try to determine the
cause for disappearances in Jamaica and encounter a giant squid, which is only
defeated by Godzilla.

“Talkin’
Trash” (10/3/98) – Microbes controlled by nanotech are released to try and curb
NY’s garbage problem, but they quickly grow out of control.

“D.O.A.” (9/26/98) – H.E.A.T. investigates a
mutated worm devouring the crops of Costa Rojo and Godzilla ends up poisoned by
its ruler.

“The Winter of Our Discontent” (10/10/98) –
After Godzilla defeats robotic insects, the team discovers an old rival of
Nick’s is behind it and wants the team to join in his schemes.

“Cat
and Mouse” (10/31/98) – While Godzilla is being hunted, NY deals with a plague
of mutated giant rats.

“Leviathan”
(11/14/98) – The team heads out to rescue xenobiologist Alexander Preloran who
disappeared while exploring the wreckage of an alien spacecraft.

“What Dreams May Come” (11/7/98) – An
electrical creature randomly attacks the city, but the team notices it doesn’t
behave like other monsters they’ve encountered.

“Hive” (11/21/98) – Radioactive lava on the
island of Santa Marta has caused a mutated ecosystem, complete with carnivorous
plants and giant bees.

“Bird
of Paradise” (12/5/98) – Elsie’s old fiancé calls the team in to help deal with
a winged creature attacking villages in Mexico.

“Freeze”
(3/13/99) – A rescue mission in the Antarctic pits the team against a group of
monsters and an unscrupulous corporation.

“DeadLoch” (2/6/99) – The team is called in to
investigate the Loch Ness Monster, but end up having to help the monster
instead.

“Competition”
(3/6/99) – Investigating disappearances in Japan leads their military to
consider Godzilla a threat, while the real threat escapes Monster Island and
makes its way for Japan.

“Bug
Out” (3/20/99) – Audrey lets it slip out that the team is having troubles with
Godzilla while mutant termites threaten the Amazon Rainforest.

“Monster War, Part 1” (2/13/99) – Monster
attacks and inner strife only compound problems when the aliens return with an
army of monsters under their control.

“Monster
War, Part 2” (2/20/99) – The aliens capture the team and reveal their plans to
unleash the monsters on various major cities.

“Monster
War, Part 3” (2/27/99) – The team manages to escape and renews their efforts to
free the monsters and stop the aliens’ plans for conquest.

“An
Early Frost” (5/8/99) – When it seems like Godzilla has attacked the city, the
military demands the team help contain him while Phillipe returns to kill him.

“Web Site” (5/1/99) – The Pentagon sends the
team to investigate a growing number of spiders by their base in the Canary
Islands.

“Juggernaut”
(8/14/99) – An alien piece of technology known as the Techno-Sentient comes to
Earth and begins bonding with the local technology.

“Trust
No One” (7/31/99) – The team encounters a creature that can mimic any living
creature it touches.

Season 2:

“What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been”
(1/15/00) – A mutant germ infects Godzilla and Nick and Monique must go inside
him to destroy the infection.

“Wedding
Bells Blew” (1/22/00) – Elise is forced to be the maid of honor for her
sister’s wedding, but the party ends up crashed by the mutated manta ray the
team was after.

“Shafted”
(2/19/00) – The team helps a little girl recover he brothers from a mine
inhabited by a creature that encase people in silver.

“Lizard Season” (3/11/00) – Cameron frees the
hunters and gives them battle robots to take on Godzilla.

“The Ballad of Gens Du Marais” (N/A) – Audrey
leads the team to a strange swamp monster that can easily match Godzilla, and
seems to have the favor of the local citizenry.

“Ring
of Fire” (4/22/00) – Randy and Craven decide to use a fire creature they
captured in money-making scheme and end up setting it free on a rampage.

“Protector” (10/9/99) – An archeological
expedition unearths a sphinx-like monster that had to be put down in the past
when it turned on the people it once protected.

“Vision” (3/18/00) – Mendel has to develop
special goggles to allow the team to see the rapid-moving mutated hummingbirds
attacking aircraft.

“Freak Show” (12/11/99) – A traveling mutant
circus causes trouble when a sea anemone escapes and beings draining people of
all their water.

“Metamorphosis” (1/29/00) – A mysterious
benefactor sends the team to Illinois to deal with a chilopod devouring crops,
but soon it changes into a cicada who’s song disrupts all radar.

“Where Is Thy Sting?” (2/26/00) – The team
encounters a mutated scorpion that was created by the military with plans to
use its offspring as bioweapons.

“Underground Movement” (4/1/00) – A lawsuit
splits the team’s focus and Randy and Mendel decide to deal with a mutant
sighting on their own.

“The Twister” (2/12/00) – A day at the beach
is interrupted by a mutant shrew that has been bonded with a twister.

“S.C.A.L.E.” (10/2/99) – The team encounters
an eco-terrorist group called S.C.A.L.E. that believes the mutated creatures
are the next step of evolution and set out to defend them.

“Future Shock” (9/18/99) – The team is sent to
2022 where they discover the work of scientist Jonathan Insley has left the
world an apocalyptic ruin.

“End of the Line” (12/18/99) – A mutated
komodo dragon saves Nick and Audrey from a mutated turtle attack, but the most
shocking thing is that the dragon is in love with Godzilla.

“Area 51” (2/5/00) – Area 51 ends up being a
prison for mutations created by underground nuclear testing, and one of them
escapes and threatens Las Vegas.

“Tourist Trap” (N/A) – The team has to try and
force a mutated frog fish back out to deeper waters while fending off
opportunist Milo Sanders who wants footage of Godzilla.

“Cash
of the Titans” (9/25/99) – Billionaire Maximillian Speil manages to take
control of Godzilla and make him the feature attraction of his monster fighting
ring.

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